Making The Impossible Possible Rewrite
by RyanFO117
Summary: A rewrite of the exsisting chapters of Making The Impossible Possible. This will also be the story for it's eventual continuation. The old story will stay up until I'm done.
1. You've Got Burning Spirit!

**So, I have officially decided to rewrite the existing chapters of this story before continuing it. There are many reasons why I wish to do this:**

**1. I began writing this story almost two years ago. When I started, I hadn't thought it through as much as I have now, also I have learned much about writing in the last couple years.**

**2. I never proof read many of the chapters. I don't really have an excuse for that.**

**3. With the direction I now see the story taking, much of what I have written is flawed and must be corrected to make sense.**

**As I post the rewritten chapters you will notice some differences:**

**1. the most important change is that Rush and Anna will be in a relationship from the beginning, instead of much later in the story as I had originally planned.**

**2. Rush will no longer have the odd over serious attitude when he is battling. (I don't even know why I did that in the first place…)**

**Anyway, here we go again!**

* * *

The forests of Mt. Coronet. This vast expanse of lush green trees, flowing rivers, streams, and ancient secrets has long been filled with numerous different species of the miraculous creatures known as Pokémon. It is a place of many challenges for those brave enough to venture through it. Challenges Pokémon trainers are willing to face. Whether it be to hone one's skills or find new friends, trainers enter this forest to move toward their goals.

Which is something our heroes seem to having some trouble with…

"When you said that we were going to try to catch a Pokémon today, I never would have thought that it would involve having to sit in a tree FOR SIX HOURS!" Anna, a particularly annoyed Gardevoir, yelled, glaring at Rush, her sixteen year old trainer; her ruby red eyes trying to burn a hole in his thick skull.

Rush simply continued to resemble a statue staring into the distance, his blue eyes partially obscured by his black hair, seeming as if he had not heard a single word Anna had said. It was hard to tell if he was even breathing.

Anna blinked, her anger appearing to melt away instantly. Realizing any attempt to help relieve herself of her aching behind were in vain, she dropped her head. Letting out a breath, she considered teleporting home and leaving him lost in the forest, but, sadly, she was just too nice.

Instead, she asked, straitening her white dress, "Rush, can we just call it a day? I mean we haven't had any luck so far. I think it would be better if we just quit."

"Nonsense!" Rush shouted.

Anna lifted her head up to see that Rush was no longer sitting next to her like he had been, but was instead ten feet above her. He stood with one hand grasping the trunk and the other pointing toward the sky. A group of startled Starly fleed from his sudden presence.

"For in this forest I sense a Pokémon with a burning spirit and a passion for battle unlike any other!" He shouted as if he were giving a speech at a podium with the whole world watching. "And with that Pokémon, we will be able to conquer any foe that steps before us!"

"Will you get down from there?!" Anna shouted up at Rush, noticing the branch he was standing on looked as if it would give under his weight any second. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Rush looked down at Anna, as if he thought her demand was a ridiculous suggestion. "My dear Anna, we cannot have such negative thoughts. For negativity will blind us from our goal. We must be determined if we wish to find what we desire!"

Anna closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in frustration. "That doesn't give you an excuse to be stupid!" She yelled up at him, but Rush was no longer above her. Her mood quickly changed to panic and she thought he might have fallen.

"You worry too much." Rush's voice came from behind Anna, shocking her and causing her to fall off the branch.

She quickly caught herself with Psychic and landed elegantly on the ground. "You're right," she said, "Your antics never seem to get you almost killed, just me."

Rush just looked at Anna, before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Anna put her hands on her hips. "What are you laughing at?"

Rush wiped tears from his eyes, "Nothing."

"No. What are you laughing at?"

Rush managed to gain control of himself, then leaped from the tree. Anna, noticing the fall to the ground was at least twenty feet, slowed his descent with her power.

Rush touched ground and walked over to Anna, putting his arms around her waist. "I was laughing because I realized you were right."

Anna leaned in closer, glaring into his eyes, though I smile touched her lips. "Oh did you?" She asked.

Rush chuckled as he leaned in as well. Soon there lips met and the world melted away. Anna, who was almost ready to deck him in the face, was now lost in bliss.

A bliss that was fleeting as Rush broke their contact.

They stood there for several minutes until Rush started walking past her. "Come on, let's keep looking,"

Anna rolled her eyes and groaned "Can we at least take a break? I haven't eaten since we got into that tree, and I'm sure you're hungry too."

"No I'm-" Rush was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling, making him laugh once again. "Alright, you win. Let's find some place to set camp."

Twenty minutes later they had found a clearing and were in the process of setting up camp. Rush was trying to pitch a tent, that never seemed to want to work right, while Anna started a fire. Anna was able to get the fire started in seconds with the help of her powers, which she then used to assist Rush with the tent. "Show off." Rush commented, making Anna giggle.

With the fire going, Rush settled down and began to cook a can of soup while Anna searched the backpack for some berries. By the time the sun was setting they were enjoying a quiet dinner in each other's company.

"If we search for Pokémon tomorrow can we not do it in a tree?"

Rush Laughed again. "Yeah, I guess that was sort of a dumb idea… But we can't look tomorrow. We have to go into the city and get some supplies and-"

Rushed stopped as he saw a rustle in the brush. Anna, noticing his change of mood, immediately shot up into a ready stance. With a hand signal from Rush, she used her Psychic to lift whatever was in the bush into the air.

They were surprised to find that it was a young boy! "Hey, hey! Put me down! This isn't funny!" He said.

Anna, hastily released her attack, letting him down a little roughly, causing him to land face-first.

"Oops, sorry…" Anna murmured.

Rush ran up to the boy and quickly apologized "Sorry about that, I thought you were a Pokémon." He helped the boy to his feet and stepped back, extending his hand. "So, let's try this again, hi my name's Rush and over there is Anna." Anna waved at the boy awkwardly.

He brushed off his cargo shorts and red T-shirt then looked up at Rush "Luke." The boy said, shaking Rush's hand. "And it's ok, I would've done something similar in your situation. Well I guess I should be going…"

"Hold on sec. You want some food? It's the least we could do for making you float."

"Uh, Rush?" Anna was about to remind him that they were almost out of food, but Luke waved off the offer.

"Nah, I'm good." He glanced at a wrist watch. "But I guess I can stay for a minute."

The three of them walked back to the fire and took a seat. "So, Luke, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"Well, I'm out here with my family, doing some research. My dad is a Pokémon Professor, though not a well-known one. I was looking around for plant that contains a chemical that could improve potions, when about an hour ago I heard something that sounded like a mad man shouting to the heavens somewhere around here. So, as I was looking for the source of the outburst, I ended up being lifted out of a bush, and here I am."

Anna face-palmed in the embarrassment of Rush's idiocy.

Rush flashed Luke a sly grin, then got to his feet. "Well, you're in luck," He said, "You've found your mad man!"

"Well at least he admits it…" Anna said to herself.

Luke's eyes widened in surprise. "That was you?"

"Yes, it was." He said proudly.

"Well, mission accomplished, I guess." Luke said, staring at the flames.

"Hey, I got an idea, how 'bout we have a battle?" Rush asked out of the blue.

Luke seem caught off guard by the request. He glanced over at Anna before answering. "Um, sure."

Rush ran out, away from the fire. Anna, initially surprised by Rush's sudden desire for a battle, was soon overcome with is feeling of determination, due to their emotional bond. She teleported before him, striking a ready position.

Luke stood up and reached for his belt, grabbing the lone pokeball hanging from it. "I choose you Beedrill!" He shouted throwing the ball in the air. The pokeball opened up and shot out a white light extending to the ground that morphed into the shape of a Beedrill. As the light faded the ball floated back into Luke's hand and a rather energetic looking Beedrill stood before him.

"So will this be one-on-one?" asked Rush, enthusiastically.

"Yup" Luke said, trying to match Rush's determination.

"Good, 'cause Anna's all I need!"

Anna, slightly flattered, was awaiting Rush's order.

"The first move is yours!" Rush shouted, Pointing a finger at Luke.

"Alright! Beedrill, let's kick things off with Fury Attack!" Luke's Beedrill burst towards Anna, unleashing a flurry of jabs with the spikes on its arms. Anna made easy work of dodging all of them, making it seem effortless.

Luke did not let that get him down. "Come on, follow it up with Pin Missile!"

The Beedrill flew back, shooting thousands of tiny pins from pores on its stinger.

Rush's smile grew wider. "Psychic!"

Anna's eyes glowed blue as she raised her hand towards the Beedrill. A faint glow formed around her body.

The pins stopped in midair, two feet from Anna's outstretched hand, and suddenly shot off in all directions. She then shifted her aim to Luke's Beedrill, the same glow that surrounded Anna began to form around it.

"Uh, oh. Try to shake it off, Beedrill!" Luke yelled know what was about to happen.

The Beedrill shut its eyes, most likely straining to free itself from Anna's grip.

"Send it packing Anna," said Rush.

Anna nodded her head sent the Beedrill flying back with a flick of her wrist. Hitting it's trainer square in the chest, and sending them both flying into the bush that they found them in.

"Oops, sorry… Again…" Anna mumbled.

Luke quickly emerged from the bush, shaking his head.

Rush scratched the back of his with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry about that. I guess we over did it-"

"Wow, you're so strong!" Luke said running up to Anna, seeming to forget that he was even thrown into a bush.

"Um... Thank you?" Anna said, somewhat uncomfortable with how close Luke was getting.

Luke backed off, puzzled "Wait, you can talk?!"

"Yes, I can." Anna said, she was surprised he hadn't noticed sooner.

"So, you did notice." Rush said suddenly behind Anna for the second time that day. He put an arm around her shoulders, causing Anna's attitude to shift from uneasy to amused. "Taught her myself," Rush bragged.

"No way, how did you do it?"

"Well, two years ago Anna and I were climbing on the other side of Mt. Coronet near my home town."

"When out of nowhere, appeared this huge Meouth hot-air balloon." Anna cut in.

"The balloon landed in the clearing we were resting in, we didn't want any trouble so we hid behind a rock to see what would happen."

"These two weirdoes, in what looked like space suits, and a Meouth stepped out of the balloon. They started talking about some kid with a Pikachu, they seemed really pissed. It was all very confusing…"

"But the thing that came as a shocker was that the Meouth joined in the conversation"

"Speaking perfect English!"

"With a Brooklyn accent."

"Yeah, I noticed that too."

"That day I started teaching her. Went well, wouldn't you say?"

"Cool," whispered Luke who, surprisingly, seemed unperturbed by Rush and Anna's back-and-forth story. "I gotta try that some time." Luke looked down in deep thought continuing to mumble to himself.

"Well it takes some effort, but it's worth it to get closer to your Pokémon." Rush mentioned.

Luke then suddenly looked shocked. He glanced at his wrist watch, realizing that time had escaped him. "Uh, oh. I gotta go. My parents are probably starting to get worried."

"Okay, see you around," Rush and Anna said in unison.

"See ya!" Luke said, looking back and waving. A large grin on his face.

He soon disappeared into the forest.

"Nice kid," Rush said after a few minutes of silence, removing his arm from Anna's shoulders, and turning to walk towards the tent.

"Where are you going?" Anna asked.

"Sleep, it's getting late."

Anna blinked, realizing that it was pitch black aside from the small amount of light given off by the dying fire. She quickly began to feel tired as well and teleported herself into the tent just as Rush opened the flap. He zipped the flap closed, took off his black T-shirt, got into his sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep. Anna got into her sleeping bag as well, she stared at Rush for a few moments before sleep took her as well.

Anna awoke to the sound of a pained yip. She shot up, instinctively looking around for the source of the sound before remembering she was in a tent. Worried, she crawled over to Rush and shook him awake.

"Mmm...What, Anna?" mumbled Rush, barely awake.

Anna shook him harder, "Rush I heard something, I think someone's in trouble."

"It was probably nothing, go back to sleep." But not long after Rush closed his eyes there was another pained yip.

They quickly got up and hurried out of the tent, Rush not even bothering to grab a shirt, trying to locate the source of the sound. Whatever it was made another yip as they searched, allowing them to locate the direction it came from. They started running.

They stopped at the site of an Eevee and a Sneasel squaring off; the Eevee had visible cuts and looked as if it was barely able to stand. The Sneasel simply looked annoyed and seemingly unhurt. Rush and Anna crouched behind a bush, wondering what was going on.

The Eevee suddenly lunged at the Sneasel trying to connect with a take down. The Sneasel used its superior speed to dodge the attack with ease and brought his elbow down on the Eevee's back, the crushing blow knocking it to the ground.

"He's going to get himself killed." Anna whispered, standing up to come to the Eevee's aid. Rush put an arm in front of her, stopping her dead.

"What are you doing?!"

"Look." Was all Rush said.

The Eevee slowly got back to his feet, all four legs wobbling. Somehow, the Eevee lunged for another take down. This time the Sneasel slashed at the Eevee's head making a deep cut with its claws in the Eevee's left cheek and knocking it back several feet. The Eevee yipped in pain once again. The Sneasel started to walk away, thinking it was over, only to be shocked when he heard the Eevee start to rise again. Now it was mad, it charged at the Eevee claw raised above its head, ready to strike the Eevee down for good.

Rush decided he had seen enough. "Energy Ball," he said.

Anna, glad to know Rush actually did plan on helping the poor Eevee, quickly obliged and charged an Energy Ball, firing at the Sneasel.

The Energy Ball hit, sending the Sneasel flying into a tree; it grunted a part of its own then slipped out of consciousness.

The last thing the Eevee saw was Rush running up to it before blacking out as well.

Rush picked the Eevee up into his arms, and turn to Anna.

"We should get him back to camp," he said, his arms were already becoming covered with its blood.

"Right," Anna nodded.

They quickly ran back to camp. Rush started to spray potion the Eevee's wounds and Anna relit the fire.

Anna watched Rush work, the potion closing most of the Eevee's wounds completely. Some of them would leave scars, especially the one across his left eye.

"He's lost a lot of blood, but he should be fine. We'll just have to wait and see."

"He?" Anna asked.

"Yeah."

"Why did you do that?"

Rush answered without hesitation, expecting the question. "I needed to know if he had it."

Anna sighed and shook her head "Well, now that that catastrophe is averted," she said standing up and walking over to the tent, "I'm going back to bed." She opened the tent, "You coming?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at Rush, who just continued to sit there, staring at the unconscious Eevee.

Anna let out another sigh and stepped into the tent, closing it behind her.

Rush watched the Eevee for some time, eventually he began to stir and slowly open its uninjured eye.

"I'm gonna call you Blaze," Rush said noticing that the Eevee was awake. "You know why?" he continued leaning towards the small Pokémon.

The Eevee's eye shot up to Rush, who was wearing the biggest grin he had all day.

"It's because you and I are a lot alike," He gave the Eevee a thumbs up. "We've both got burning spirit! And together we gonna conquer any foe that comes before us. So, what do you say, Blaze? Wanna be part of the family?"

Blaze smiled and weakly nodded his head before blacking out again.


	2. It only gets better

**Hello all! Ch. 2 coming up! **

**First I shall answer some questions raised by AlreadyCaught'EmAll:**

**Far, None of your business, Just Anna and Blaze (The stories not about your typical pokemon journey, as you'll come to see), Yes, Yes, Blueberry.**

**THAT IS ALL!**

* * *

The next morning, Anna awoke feeling less tired than she expected, given the events of last evening. Opening her eyes, she reached out to the portable alarm clock in the corner of the tent. It read 7:45, fifteen minutes before the alarm was set, as per usual. She then reached around to wake up Rush, but instead found the sleeping bag to be empty aside from herself. Looking over, she saw a note on his pillow. It read:

**Anna,**

**Got up early, went for a run, didn't want to wake you up. Don't need that in the morning.**

**Don't pack up yet I might be a while.**

**Don't set the forest on fire. (That's my job)**

**Etc...**

**Oh, and try to talk to Blaze, it may take some time for him to adjust.**

**Rush**

Anna smiled. "Shouldn't be too hard." She said, folding the note. Getting out of the tent, she through the folded note onto the remnants of last night's fire, which burst back to life the second the note hit the pile of ash. Putting more wood on, she looked over at the still sleeping Eevee. He looked better already. All of his wounds were healed. And most of the scars already looked faded and would probably go away completely, given enough time. The one across his left eye, though, was a different story.

"Blaze, huh?" Anna said to no one in particular, "...fitting"

She floated off into the woods in search for the berry bush she had found last night. Fifteen minutes later she had found the berries and had just gotten back to camp. She put half of them down by Blaze and started eating her own, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, staring at the fire.

She was wondering whether to start making Rush's breakfast when suddenly, Down with the Sickness started playing from inside the tent.

"What's that? What? Huh?" Blaze said, shocked awake and now circling around in confusion.

Anna quickly remembered that she had forgotten to reset the alarm and shut it off with her psychic powers. She walked up to Blaze and patted him on the head. "Sorry about that Blaze," She said, "I guess I forgot to turn off the alarm."

The small Pokémon seemed confused for a second, "Blaze?" he said. His look quickly flashed to realization. "Oh, right, that's my name..." He looked around. Seemingly taking in his surroundings. "Hey, where's that guy who was here before?"

"Rush just went for a run," Anna answered, picking up the berries Blaze had scattered around, "he should be back soon." She placed the berries back in front of the Eevee.

Blaze gave the berries a sideways look, as if he had never seen them before. "Oh," He said simply. Whether it was in response to Anna's answer, or a comment on the berries was unclear. He continued to stare at them for a few moments before lying down and rolling one back and forth between his paws. "Rush... huh," he mumbled under his breath.

The forest was very still during their moment of silence, not even the dew seemed to be dripping down the blades of grass.

"Sooo... how long have you been with this human?" Blaze asked after a few moments. "Since the day I was born," she replied simply.

Blaze seemed unpleased with the answer. "So, a long time?"

Anna was unsure whether she should take offence to that, but decided to blame in on a poor choice of words.

"It's been twelve years." She elaborated, "I've been a part of his family since I was an egg. He's really nice; he always puts my wellbeing before his. He took several hits for me throughout the years. We were almost like brother and sister. That was until-"

She caught herself before she said too much.

Anna's silence peaked Blaze's interest. "Until what?"

"Nothing! The important thing is that I'm sure you and him will get along great.

"Talking about me again, are you?" Said Rush stepping into the clearing, drying himself off with his shirt.

"Maybe..." Anna responded with a smirk.

Rush walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds until Rush started to chuckle, after which he walked over to the tent put on a new black T-shirt and started taking the tent apart.

Anna walked over to their other supplies and started packing it into a backpack.

Blaze, wondering what just happened, starting eating his berries and watched Rush and Anna dismantle their camp.

"So I take it we aren't staying here." Blaze said to no one in particular.

"Nope," Anna said. "We need to go into the city for supplies. Ever been to a city?"

"No, but I've heard of them." Blaze popped another berry into his mouth, talking in between chews, "My parents always said I should stay away from them. That they were these weird metal forests that seem to go on forever. They said they're too dangerous for a little Eevee like me." He said the last sentence in a mocking tone, and then looked solemnly at the ground as if he regretted it. "Turns out it was this forest that was dangerous…"

Rush saw that Anna was on the verge of tears. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Blaze's parents…"

Rush understood immediately and quickly finished packing up.

Rush then walked back over to Blaze, taking an empty pokeball off his belt.

"Alright Blaze," he said crouching down in front of him, "ready to become part of the team?"

Blaze, whose mood perked back up right away, responded by smiling and pressing the button on the ball with him paw, having already made his decision last night. He instantly started to glow red and become increasingly transparent as he was called into the pokeball.

As soon as he knew he was caught Rush released Blaze, who shook himself like he had gotten wet. Rush kneeled down and scratched him behind the ears, earning a happy yip from the small Pokémon.

"Ok everyone," Rush said, starting to walk out of the clearing and into the forest. "Let's get going!"

Rush led the way, occasionally taking out a compass to make sure he was going the right direction, with Anna and Blaze not far behind.

"You never gave me a straight answer before," Blaze said.

"I know," Anna responded casually.

"So you're his mate then?" Blaze stated just as casually.

Anna missed a step and almost fell to the ground. She took a moment to regain her balance before resuming her stride.

"If you don't keep walking your gonna get lost!" Rush said without even turning his head.

Anna's face was as red as her eyes. She didn't know why she was so embarrassed; it was just weird hearing someone else say it. Blaze walked into her line of sight, she could tell by the look on his face that he was still waiting for an answer.

"What makes you think that I'm his," she swallowed, "mate?" Her face turning redder with every word and her eyes avoiding contact with him at all costs.

"Oh come on, it's so obvious! There's no reason to be embarrassed, though. I don't judge."

Anna kept staring at the ground, walking faster to try to lose him. Blaze had no trouble keeping up though.

"So, come on! How'd it happen I want to know! He yelled like a gossiping school girl.

Anna fumbled for words, "I… I don't…" Suddenly, she bumped into what she thought was a tree, and realized she hadn't been looking where she was going. She was surprised, when she looked up, to see that what she had ran into was not a tree, but Rush, concern in his warm blue eyes.

"Are you Ok, Anna? You sound kind of down," he said.

She averted his gaze, her face turning red again, though not as bad as before.

"No, I'm... fine," she said.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, still keeping herself from looking into his eyes.

"Alright," Rush said still sounding concerned, he turned around and started walking again, "Come on we wanna get to the city before noon so we can-"

Rush's voice was drowned out by a loud roar. Anna looked up from the ground. All she saw was what looked like an ATV speeding off before she saw Rush lying on the ground. She immediately ran to his side and helped him up.

"Ow, fucking bastard almost ran me over," Rush said holding him right arm, he looked around his expression getting ever more angry, "AND HE JUST RAN OFF WITHOUT SAYING A FUCKING THING!" He kicked a nearby rock and continued mumbling in anger as he started walking again.

Anna and Blaze, still a little confused at what just happened, soon followed suit as they approached their destination.

(One bad time transition later)

Blaze stared in amazement at the sight before him. "This is a city?" he asked.

"That's right, this is Hearthome City," Anna answered.

"Wow," Blaze was continuously gawking at the tall buildings that surrounded him as the group moved through the streets of the city, "I knew humans could make some amazing stuff, but this is insane!"

"Hey Anna, what's Blaze talking to you about?" Rush asked, the question catching Blaze's ear.

"We're just talking about the city."

Rush looked at Blaze for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Anna. "I guess that makes sense..." he took a map out of his pocket, "Now, where's that Pokémon Center?"

The group continued navigating through the streets for a few minutes until they arrived at the Pokémon Center.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the Nurse Joy said the second the sliding doors parted for the group. The Nurse Joy looked just like every other, with a large smile on her face and a Chansey at her side, who looked to be sorting files.

"Hi, I would like to register my newest Pokémon." Rush said politely as he approached the counter.

"Sure thing, I'll just need to see your pokedex,"

Rush handed the nurse his pokedex. She then started to type something into the computer next to her.

"I see. So you recently acquired an Eevee?"

"That is correct."

"And where is the little guy?"

Rush lifted Blaze onto the counter. Blaze gave his best smile to the nurse.

"Oh my, you look like you got into quite the fight!" Nurse Joy said.

Blaze lowered his head, remembering the fight of the previous night.

"Yeah, he got in a bad fight with a Sneasel yesterday. That's actually how I came to find him," Rush petted Blaze on the head cheering him up a little.

"Hmm, well let's get you fixed up properly," The nurse typed one last thing into the computer and picked Blaze up for the counter. "This shouldn't take more than a minute. You can have a seat over there." She nodded her head toward a sitting area containing a few couches and chairs and a knee high coffee table before walking into the back of the center, the Chansey right on her heels.

Rush walked over and fell onto one of the couches, his arms stretched out behind him and his head tilted back. Anna sat down next to him. Rush wrapped one of his arms around her, pulling her close as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

Anna gladly laid her head on Rush's chest. "We're too obvious, you know." She said.

Rush chuckled. "Are we now?"

Anna nodded. "Blaze figured it out almost right away."

Rushed used his free hand to tap his fingers on the couch, thinking a moment before saying, "Well, it's not really that big of a deal. At least, not anymore. Rush referred to the recent law that was passed acknowledging Pokémon as sentient beings and gave them many the same rights as humans.

"Anna nodded again. "I guess you're right…"

The two sat in silence until they saw Nurse Joy reemerge with Blaze.

"He's good as new," She said as they met at the counter. "The scar on his eye will be permanent, I'm afraid…"

"That's OK," Rush said, "It makes him look bad-ass!"

"Language! Please!" Nurse Joy said.

"Oh, sorry…" Rush's eyes dropped to the floor as Blaze hopped down from the counter. "So is there anything else?" he asked.

"Nope you're all set…"

She paused and looked back at the computer.

"Hold on, according to the trainer database, you haven't received your Pokémon translator yet,"

"My what?" Rush asked as if he didn't believe what she was saying.

"Pokémon translator," she repeated. She bent under the counter and came back up holding a small device in her hand, "It's a new technology that translates a Pokémon's speech to English, or whatever language you prefer, in real time."

"No way!" Rush took the translator from the nurse's hand and examined it closely, "So how does it work?"

"You just put it on your ear,"

"Like this?" Rush put the translator on his ear like one would a headphone.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Then you just flick the switch on the back,"

Rush felt over the translator for a second before his finger grazed the switch. Flicking it, he heard a high pitched noise for a second that he guessed signified the device turning on.

"Ok, let's see if this works. Blaze, say something."

"Something," he said simply.

"Wow, it works!" Rush exclaimed.

"Wait a second." Anna chimed in, "When did these things come out?"

"Just yesterday actually," Nurse Joy said, smiling. "Product testing ended sometime last week and they began being sold to the public yesterday."

"Why didn't we hear about this?" Rush asked.

"A message was sent to every trainer's Poketch yesterday stating its release and that it was free for all registered trainers."

Rush stared at Nurse Joy with a blank expression. Without looking away from her, he shrugged off his backpack and began Rummaging through it. Soon, he pulled the red watch from the abyss.

"Aaaand the batteries dead…" Rush stated.

Anna smacked rush on the back head as hard as she could, "YOU SEE?" she yelled at him, "THIS IS WHAT WE MISS WHEN WE SPEND THE WHOLE DAY IN A TREE!"

"HEY DON'T YELL AT ME, HOW WAS I SUPPOSTED TO KNOW THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD COME OUT THE ONE DAY WE'RE NOT AROUND?" Rush yelled back.

"WELL, REGUARDLESS, SPENDING ALL DAY IN TREE IN A DUMB IDEA ANYWAY!"

"OH, SO MY IDEAS ARE DUMB NOW ARE THEY?"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID! DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH!"

"Oh dear," Nurse Joy said under her breath while Rush and Anna continued yelling at each other, "Chansey, could try to break this up for me?"

Chansey saluted Nurse Joy before running in to the room behind them, and returned with a bucket of water.

"Chansey!" it said dumping the bucket on Rush and Anna's heads. "Calm down you two, there's no need for pointless arguing," it lectured them.

Rush and Anna, both dripping wet, Held their heads low before Rush spoke up, "She's right," he said "sorry about that Anna,"

"It's ok," She assured him.

Rush turned to the nurse and bowed. "Thank you Nurse Joy," he said.

"No problem. If you need anything else, feel free to ask,"

Rush nodded and started making his way to the other side of the Pokémon Center, towards the computer. When he got to it, Rush started typing.

"What are we doing now?" Blaze inquired.

Rush stopped typing and got on his knees. "Do you know what evolution you wanna be?" he asked him.

"Why?" Blaze asked.

"Because, I have the materials to let you become whichever you like, except an Umbreon or Espeon, or you can stay an Eevee if you want, I'm not forcing you. But I need you to be as strong as you can be, and evolving would certainly speed things up. But like I said, if you don't want to, that's fine."

Blaze just stood there a few moments, "I never really thought about it..." he said, his voice barely audible.

"Take your time. This is a big decision,"

Blaze thought very hard what he wanted to do, weighing all his options carefully, and one option kept standing out over the others. After several minutes, he made his choice, "I wanna be a Flareon!" he said, sounding concrete in his decision.

"Really?" Anna questioned, "What made you decide on that?"

"Because my name is Blaze, duh." He said, and Anna chuckled.

"Alright then," Rush turned back to the computer and typed some more. A slot suddenly opened up under the monitor, inside it was a fire stone.

Rush picked it up and held it out to Blaze, and placed his paw on the stone.

Blaze immediately began to glow a blinding white, his body starting to change shape shortly after. When the light faded away, where an Eevee once stood, Blaze was now a Flareon. His new red and tan fur had grown in over his battle scars from the previous day, all except the one on his eye. But even it looked better.

Blaze circled around himself for a few seconds, trying to get a good look at his new body, before smiling up at Rush and wagging his bushy tail.

"So I take it your happy?" Rush asked.

"Yup!" Blaze answered, wagging his tail faster.

"That's good," Rush leaned forward and pet Blaze, noticing his fur was a temperature close to burning him.

With the evolution done, the group left the Pokémon Center.

"Where to now Phil?" Anna asked in an English accent, quoting Eddie Izzard.

"Food." Rush answered. "I. Am. Hungry!"

They didn't make it very far before they could tell something was wrong. As the three rounded the corner, they noticed a large group of people down the street, along with several police cars and two fire trucks. They exchanged worried looks and started running down the street to see what was going on. The mass of people all seemed to be looking up in panic. Rush walked over to the nearest person, "What's going on?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.

"There's a kid up in that window, they think he's gonna jump," the man responded.

Rush looked up the side of the building. Almost at the top window, Rush could make out the shape of a person.

Rush clenched his fists in anger. "Well it looks like the day's only going to get more interesting."


	3. Pete

It wasn't long before Rush was on the move. There was very little time, and he wasn't about to let this happen. Shoving his way through the crowd, Rush made his way over to one of the Police officers he could see.

"Please, tell me you're doing something about this." He said, grabbing the Policeman by the shoulder.

The Policeman looked at Rush solemnly. "It's going to take some time for a negotiator to get here," he said, "and we don't have anything to save him if he jumps. Not from that height…"

Rush's anger boiled over. He grabbed the Policeman by the collar. "So you're just sitting on your ass and doing nothing?!"

The officer pushed Rush off with ease. "Hey! I don't like this anymore than you do, but odds are whatever we can do will probably do more harm than good. So yes, I sit on my ass. And pray to Arceus he doesn't do it…"

Anna and Blaze caught up to Rush. "What's going on? Is anyone helping him?" Anna asked as soon as she was next to him. Rush stared up at the man in the window and mumbled something Anna couldn't hear over the crowd. "Rush?" She asked again.

"If you want something done right, you do it yourself." Rush said as he pulled Blaze's ball off of his belt.

Anna stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Anna, get me up there, now," he opened Blaze's ball and Blaze disappeared in a flash of red.

"Why? What are you doing?"

"Stopping this guy from making the worst decision you could ever make."

"But, Rush I don't think you-"

"Anna there's no time, just do it!"

Anna, realizing he was right and that this was no time for arguing, quickly teleported him into the building to put an end to this.

Meanwhile, in the sky line of Hearthome City, a brown haired boy stood in the window of an abandoned office space, crying, remembering all the events that led him to this point.

He wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve. "This is it…" he said.

He inched closer to the edge, but he hesitated as he looked down.

"You know, if you wanted a good view of the city, I hear they do helicopter tours." A voice came from behind him. His surprise made him jump back from the window and turn around to see Rush leaning against a wall on the other side of the room with his arms crossed over his chest. "You're just a kid." Rush said after he got a good look at him and shook his head. "Now, why are up here?"

The boy's shock quickly turned into anger. But it did not touch his voice. "You must be the negotiator." He said. "I thought you'd be older."

The boy turned back around and moved again to the window. This time he kept his eyes straight ahead. He didn't dare look down. "Well that doesn't change anything. I'm going to listen to you and I'm going to tell you anything. I'm guessing there are cops right in the hall ready to grab me the second I step far enough away from the window?"

"I'm not a negotiator." Rush said, which made the boy's head turn. "And as for whether there're cops in the hall, I can't be sure, considering I more or less flew right into this room…"

"What does that mean?"

"I teleported. Via my Gardevoir."

The boy fell silent for a moment. Long enough for Rush to consider running over to him. "If you're not a negotiator, then why are you here?" He said just as Rush pushed himself off the wall.

"I asked first." Rush said almost playfully.

"My life is my business. As is what I do with it." The last part was almost a whisper.

Rush took a step forward, now one hundred percent serious. "Nothing is ever worth throwing your life away." Rush unclenched his fists, unable to remember when he clenched them.

"Nothing?" The boy said, turn to face Rush. His eyes were filled with anger and pain. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

"No, I don't." Rush took another step forward. "But I do know this: whatever shit has happened to you, it isn't the end. There is always something better in the future."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Oh, that's bull!" he shouted. "And just how would you know anyway?"

"Because I've been where you are!" The two stared at each other before Rush continued. "Two years ago I sat in my bed with a knife to my throat. And I thought about everything that made my life a living hell. But I pulled the knife away, because I realized that I was just chickening out. I swore that, whatever Arceus threw at me, I would not let it stop me! I. Will. Not. Quit!" By the end Rush was panting. He took a second to gather himself. "My point is: there is always a reason to keep living. And don't even think of lying to me and saying you don't have one, because I know you have one. Otherwise you would've jumped long before I got up here."

The boy's anger had washed away. He dropped his head as he let Rush's words sink in. He was right; about everything…

He started to cry. "I have two Pokémon back home." He said stepping out of the window. "I kept telling myself they'd be better off without me." He sat down against the wall adjacent to the windows. "I mean they've seen nearly none of me in awhile. I barely left my room the last few days…"

Rush sat down next to him. "They will miss you. They will."

The two sat in silence for several minutes.

"I'm Rush, by the way" Rush extended a hand to the boy.

The boy stared at his hand for a moment like its existence was impossible, but then hesitantly took it. "Pete." He said simply.

Rush laughed, and Pete was taken aback. "Well then, Pete." Rush said slapping a hand on Pete's shoulder. "I think this is the start of a great friendship."

They both laughed at that. And as it died away, Pete looked toward the ceiling and thought of the past and the future, this time in a whole new light.

"So what do you want to do now?" Rush asked.

"I think I'm gonna go home," Pete said getting up from the wall. "Tell everyone to stop looking for me on the one o'clock news."

Rush got up as well. "That might pose an issue…" he said.

Back on the ground Anna stood in the growing crowd of people, worried about Rush, all she saw was the boy walking into the building, so she assumed Rush succeeded, but that was fifteen minutes ago and no one had come out of the building yet.

Just as she was questioning why she hadn't gone up with him, she saw Rush with the boy coming out of the front of the building. Just as soon as they were out of the building a crowd of news reporters were on top of them. Rush tried his best to keep them at bay as they moved into the street. Anna moved as fast as she could through the mass of people to get to him. "What's going on?" she asked him.

"We're taking this kid home." He said.

It wasn't long before the police was helping keep the mountain of questioning news people off of the three, and the cop that Rush had talked to before approached them. "I'm going to need to take him in…" He said to Rush.

Rush put a hand on the policeman's shoulder. "He just wants to go home and put this behind him." He said.

The police officer shook his head. "It's procedure. I need to file a report, and what his did is technically illegal…"

Rush locked gaze with the man. "He made a mistake. He just wants to go home and tell his family he's ok. Please."

Anna's eyes shot to Rush in bewilderment. Did he just say please?

The officer seemed to be mulling over what to do in his head. It wasn't long before he nodded his head at Rush, though, and began leading them to his car.

As Rush and Anna piled in, the officer asked Pete where he lived, who gave the man the basic directions and then got in the car as well. It wasn't long before they were on their way.

"Anna, this is Pete. Pete, Anna." Rush said after a few moments silence.

"Hey," Pete said trying to smile.

"Hi there, how are you?" Anna said before realizing that was probably the wrong thing to ask.

Pete chuckled though. "A lot better than I was this morning." He said.

**Ten Minutes Later**

"Alright, we're here," said the police officer as he pulled the car to a stop.

Rush and Anna stepped out of the car and were immediately frozen in place when they looked up.

"I think the cop has the wrong address," Rush said.

"Nope, it's right," Said Pete, walking to the door of his mansion.


	4. A new chaper in a burning book

**Ok, so, a short drop off with the updates. But no worries!**

**Before I get started, though, I'd like to make a few things clear about this story. First off, this story is a double dose of revenge tragedy with a few heroes' journeys thrown in. It is also a story being written in a classic anime/manga style in which I start out with humor and character development, introduce the plot and then break up the plot with more humor. Second is that this is a serious story, as I always intended it to be and I am not making this up as I go. **

**Next thing I'd like to bring attention to is something I recently posted on my deviantArt (which is KillKing121 by the way) stating that I am using this story as the basis for my senior project, the details of which are on that site. So if you want to see this story come to life, add me to your watch.**

**And without further adieu:**

Rush and Anna were gaping at the sight before them: what must have been the biggest fucking mansion in Sinnoh! It was only two-stories high but went farther back then they could see! The walls were a light pink and the whole thing was covered in ornately carved moldings.

They continued staring for a few more moments before for they exchanged confused looked and started catching up with Pete.

But Rush was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Listen kid," The officer began.

"Rush." Rush told him before he could continue.

"Rush. Listen, I'm going to do my best to sweep this under the rug. But there's no guarantee that your friend there isn't going to have to answer for what he did, in one way or another."

Rush nodded. He knew this was coming. "I'm aware. And I'll be sure to tell him what he needs to know."

"One other thing you should tell him." The officer continued. "I can't just turn my back on this and pretend it never happened, even if that's what I'm helping everyone else do. I want to leave someone with him in order to make sure he gets better and not worse after what happened today. So, see if he's willing to let a psychiatrist stay in that gargantuan house of his for a few weeks."

"Or you could just have me stay with him. Wouldn't that be easier?" Rush said with a devious smile.

"No, I can't do that. You're not qualified, and-"

"Oh, come on! What am I gonna do? Kill him? That would be a waste of effort now wouldn't it?"

The officer glared at Rush before submitting. "Ok, fine. But I will be checking up on you."

"I expect nothing less."

"Good. I'll be seeing you. Right now, though, I need a drink."

The officer got in his car and drove off. Rush waved to him as he disappeared down Pete's long driveway.

"What did he want?" Anna asked as Rush caught up with her.

"It looks like we get to stay with our new friend for a while."

"Really?" Anna glanced at the mansion again. "Well this should be fun."

The two caught up with Pete just as he was ringing the doorbell. "Isn't this your house? Why did you just ring the doorbell?"

"I left my key here." Pete said looking annoyed. Why are you still here?"

Rush didn't let it go. "Why would you leave your keys?"

"Well, I didn't think I would be coming back, now did I?"

Rush opened his mouth again but, realizing Pete's point, decided to shut up.

Just then the door opened. Standing in the hall was and man who looked to be in his late sixties, tall and thin, wearing a gray suit and tie. He had silver hair and a mustache to match, blue eyes filled with kindness, and wrinkles on his face that showed he smiled very often.

"My god, Master Peter!" the old man shouted when his eyes landed on Pete, and he wrapped his arms around him. He seemed to be on the verge of tears. "This is a wonderful surprise! I'm so glad you're still with us. I hope you realized your mistake, there's much of life you would've missed out on if you hadn't." He let Pete go and took a step back. "Oh, what am I doing, come in, welcome home master Peter, and who might these two be? Come in, come in it's not too often the young master brings friends to this house!"

The old man continued rambling things like 'I guess this means I'm not out of a job?' as the group enter the house. The inside of the mansion was just as grand as the outside. The foyer had a large staircase in the center of the back wall with double doors to the left and right that led to the rest of the ground floor. The stairs branched off in the center, leading to either side of the floor above. What could be seen of the second floor was floating balconies in front of several dark-wooded doors. The balconies turned into hallways as the eye approached the back of the room to disappear into the rest of the mansion. To the left and right of the foyer were two sitting rooms filled with books. It was like something strait out of a TV show.

Pete talked to the old man as Rush and Anna drank it all in. "It's good to be home Russell," he said. "And you know you don't need to call me 'master'"

"Well, I guess I just got excited." said Russell, gleaming "Who are your friends? I've never seen them around before."

"The kid's name is Rush, I guess he's the reason I'm still alive... I don't know if you saw the news, but he's the one who pulled me off the roof. The Gardevoir's name is Anna she's Rush's Pokémon. Do me a favor and get them out of here as fast as possible."

"What? But why?" Russell asked, taken aback.

"I just want to forget this day happened… And plus that guy gives me a headache."

"Master Peter! This boy saved your life! Not only do you owe him your thanks, but you can at least let him stay for lunch."

"Humph, we'll see…"

"This sure is one amazing house, Pete." said Anna walking up to Pete.

Pete looked around like he wasn't sure what she was talking about. "Yeah, I guess it is." He said.

"So are you like, royalty or something?"

"No, my dad was the primary stock-owner of some big over-seas company, Facebook I think it's called, we got a crap load of money from that, with nothing to spend it on. One day my mom thought, for some reason, that I 'would have so many friends constantly coming over and we need a bigger house' and three years later this was finished...Is he OK?" he finished, pointing to Rush.

Rush was standing at the other end of the room banging his head against the wall.

"Oh Rush," Anna said rolling her eyes and floating over to him. "What is your problem?"

"He's an idiot, right?" he said, "I rescued an idiot. Does he have any idea how much better off than most people? And yet his life is so bad he feels he's better off ending it. I hate people like him, I really do."

"OK, stop there. One, your speaking loud enough that Pete most-likely just heard every word you said. Two, maybe you should hear him out before you start stereotyping?"

Rush thought for a second. "If I say no, will you hit me?"

Anna punched Rush in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, and walked back to Pete.

"So, um, thanks… and all." Pete said as Anna approached.

"No problem. Consider it just what we do." She smiled at him warmly and he smiled back.

"So, if you guys don't mind, I-"

"Well now, would Pete's guests care for some lunch?" Russell interrupted, ignoring Pete's glare in response to his word. "And considering the circumstances, I won't take no for an answer."

"That's very kind of you." Rush said showing up out of nowhere.

"Should I hit you harder next time?" Anna asked in annoyance of being scared by seeming teleportation.

Rush ignored her.

"Also I should tell you that Anna and I were told to stay here for a while to make sure you get back on your feet."

"WHAT?!" Pete said in disbelief.

Rush shrugged. "Police orders."

Pete shook his head. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

But at the same time Russell said, "Oh that is wonderful. Of course you are welcome to stay with us. I will get started with the lunch. Feel free to look around until then."

Russell left through the doors on the left of the left side of the stairs, leaving the group in the foyer. Pete with his mind made for him, just gave up.

"Well, I guess I have no choice. You can take any room you want. Most of the second floor is bedrooms so… Where did he go?" Pete asked Anna referring to Rush, who was no longer in the room.

Anna shrugged. "He said we could explore."

**Meanwhile**

Out of the countless rooms in Pete's mansion there was one, at that point, which had a TV on loud enough that no human should be near it. Luckily the one in that room was not human.

A Gallade sat on the couch that sat in the middle of the room, leaning on the right arm, with a controller in hand. His red eyes were glued to the sixty inch flat-screen and was deeply focused on a game of Modern Warfare 2. The game of Team Death match seemed to be going well with a score of 7200 to 4500 in the Gallade's team's favor. The Gallade wielded a FAMAS with attached red dot sight. The Gallade rounded a corner on the map and came face to face with three enemy players. With a quick reaction time, he aimed down the sight and fire a single burst into the enemy player's chest. He then aimed at the other two enemies who had clumped together. Two burst and they were both dead.

"Oh, hell yes!" He shouted as he watched the slow-motion replay of his game winning kill.

"Nice game. The FAMAS is excellent, isn't it?" said Rush, leaning over the back of the couch.

"I know. I love it. That was like my best game!... Wait,"

The Gallade slowly turned around until he found himself face-to-face with Rush, who casually smiled and waved.

He jumped back in shock.

"How did you get in here? The door was locked!" Then his face turned puzzled. He looked Rush up and down and the shocked looked returned to him. "Hold on a second, you're not Pete! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

The Gallade ran into the hall, screaming his head off, and leaving Rush standing in the middle of the room. "He's funny."

**Back with Pete and Anna**

"So how big is this house?" Anna asked as she and Pete wandered the halls looking for Rush.

"I don't really know… Big enough for me to still get lost in it sometimes."

"Why would your parents even build something like this?"

"Well, let's just say my mom could get a bit obsessive and leave it at that."

Anna nodded and changed the subject. "So is it just you and Russell living here?"

"Up until today, yes. Well, no, actually, I have two Pokémon of my own. They're around here somewhere."

Just then the two of them heard a scream come from behind them that was getting louder.

"Speak of the devil," Pete said before the screaming person ran into Anna, knocking them both to the ground.

Anna felt like she had just been hit by a tank. She tried to move her hand to her head but it was pinned down. She opened her eyes to see a Gallade was on top of her. For a second she was bewildered, they stared at each other for a few moments, until Anna came to her senses and threw him off of her. "Ow, what was that for?" The Gallade said.

Anna stood up and smoothed out her dress. "Pervert," she said to him.

The Gallade looked at her confused. "What did I do?"

"Hey Simon, what's up?" Pete said.

"Oh, hi Pete." said the Gallade, Simon, as he got back to his feet, "What's up? You look down."

"Did anyone else see what he just did?" Anna complained.

"I've had a very weird day..." Pete said ignoring her, unintentionally

"And it ain't over yet!" Rush said swinging and arm onto Pete's shoulders.

"Where were you, exactly?" Anna asked, her irritation now directed toward him.

"I got lost, sorry about that," Anna rolled her eyes. "What? He said I could explore."

"Ah! It's the creepy guy!" Simon yelled, "Pete, how did all these people get in our house?"

"Long story, believe me," Pete sighed. "Simon this is Anna and Rush, Rush and Anna, Simon."

"Nice to meet you," Rush said.

"I'm going to kill him," Anna mumbled.

"Nice to meet you to," Simon said, walking up to Rush and shaking his hand, "And for the record, unlike earlier I'm usually not that much of a spaz,"

"Yes you are," Pete told him slapping him upside the head.

Simon glared at Pete for a second but quickly turned his attention back to Rush. "So is that hotness of a Gardevoir single?" he continued, pointing at Anna. Who immediately unleashed a Dark Pulse, throwing him into the wall and knocking him unconscious.

Rush raised an eyebrow and said "Did I miss something?"

"Forget it," Anna said now completely pissed off.

"Simon! What is with all the noise?" a new voice said.

Everyone turned around in the direction of this new voice. Coming around the corner of the hallway was a Glaceon, looking as if it hadn't slept in days, or that was crying its eyes out for all of this one.

"It's bad enough that I have to constantly listen to that T.V. at a volume so loud they can hear you in _Hoenn_at all hours of the day. I don't need you crashing around in the hallway too!"

The Glaceon looked up, and was first shocked to see such a large group of people she didn't recognize, then her eyes locked with Pete's and she began to cry.

"Pete!" she yelled, sprinting over to him and knocking him to the ground. She then started to happily rub her cheek against his. "You're alive! Thank Arceus your alive!"

Then, all of sudden her face turned angry, "Don't dare say you're doing something like that again! Or so help me I'm going to freeze you inside a block of ice!"

And then back to sad, "I'm so glad your O.K."

"Saw the note, did you?" Pete asked, tears starting to well up in his eyes too.

"Of course! How could you say you were going to do something like that?"

Pete's Glaceon was, by that point, openly weeping on his chest. And she was surprised when Pete wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry Laurel. All the stuff that's been happening lately got to me and I made a stupid choice. I promise I'll never do anything like that again." Now Pete was crying just as hard as her.

"Good," Laurel said in-between sniffles.

Rush and Anna were psychically discussing whether or not to leave them alone, when Pete lifted his head up and said to Rush: "Well the gang's all here now..."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Rush said suddenly, reaching into his pocket. A few seconds later he was holding Blaze's Pokeball. "Come on out Blaze!" He said pushing the release button.

Blaze, as he was just coming out of his ball, let out a jet of flame that narrowly missed all of them. "Warn me the next time you do that!" He shouted, "Man, I hate those things..." He shivered, then realized they were no longer in the city or back in the forest (which is where he expected to be at this point) and that they were more people than he remembered.

"Ok, I was in there for like, 3 hours at most, how did I miss this much?"

"I'll explain everything later," Rush said, walking over to pet Blaze's head.

Blaze happily let him, and then he noticed the Glaceon on Pete's chest. He was immediately lost in her eyes and forgot how to breath.

"Um… Why is he looking at me like that?" Laurel asked starting to feel awkward because of Blaze's staring.

Just then, Russell stuck his head around the corner.

"Peter and friends, the food is ready."

Pete picked up Laurel, placed her next to him and started to stand up. "Thank you, Russell"

"No problem,"

"Well, I guess let's eat. I know I sure am hungry after a day like this one," Pete said to everyone.

"Agreed!" said Rush.

"I'm totally starving!" Anna said.

"Yay food!" said Laurel. And just like that, for a second all problems are forgotten.

They all started to follow Pete toward the dining room(sure to be huge as well) but Laurel hung back a few seconds, wondering whether or not she should wake up Simon, then remembering she didn't like him and started to catch up.

By the time they had all sat down at the long table in the dining hall, the whole scope of Pete's mansion was starting to get old for Rush and Anna. So they didn't stare at the massive fire place at the end of the room with its stone intricately carved with the forms of some of Sinnoh's legendary Pokémon, or dangling chandelier, more crystal than anything else, that refracted the light in a brilliant and mystifying way. Instead their eyes were glued to the spread of food before them. The table was covered from end to end with plates of sandwiches, bowls soups and sea food, and platters of things that they had never seen before.

"If this is lunch, I can't wait to see dinner." Rush said as he started to fill his plate.

"My apologies if this is a bit much. I simply got excited that we had guests for the first time in so long."

"You cooked all of this?" Rush was amazed.

Russell bowed to Rush and smiled. "Of course, cooking is a passion of mine."

Anna was also busy filling her plate. "No apologies necessary. I sure ain't complaining."

The meal went by fairly quietly, with only a few annoyed outbursts of 'will you stop staring at me?' from Laurel before Pete said, "So tell me again why you're staying here.

"Because the cops want to make sure you don't do something like that again." Rush said through a mouthful of food.

Pete stood up and was leading over the table "Ok, so what? In my opinion that doesn't give you the right to bum at my house! Why can't they just leave me alone?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Rush shot Pete a look of anger that made him take a step back. "What happened today was a big deal. If it wasn't for me, if I didn't stick with you after getting you out of that window, you'd be in a holding cell right now waiting to either go to an insane asylum or to jail."

Rush's words only relit Pete's anger and he slammed his hands back onto the table. "That's just stupid!"

"No it's not. After most people pull a stunt like that, the only concern of the police is to keep you off the streets and out of the news. Even if you weren't sent to some mental hospital, they'd hit you with some bogus charge like pubic endangerment or trespassing, put you in jail, and then send you to a mental hospital."

Pete was still raging; his arms shook as he gripped the tablecloth. But he sat down anyway, defeated.

"This is the only way you get to go back to your normal life." Rush finished.

Anna heard Pete mumble under his breath "That's not exactly the best of outcomes either…" But Rush must've missed it, because he went right back to eating.

After lunch, everyone had dispersed about the mansion. Blaze had started following Laurel around, so Laurel had to run to get away from him, and they were now running around the hallways. Pete decided to read, so Rush and Anna decided to keep looking around. But they quickly got lost and separated.

Rush was trying to figure out how to get back to the foyer to get his bearings, but was beginning to forget which way was left when he started hearing voices coming from a room with an opened door. He peeked in and saw Simon sitting on what looked to be an examination table, and he was being looked over by Russell who was wearing a stethoscope.

"If you'll sit still, this would be over much more quickly." Russell said, running two fingers down Simon's outstretched arm.

"It's not my fault everything hurts. Ow, watch it!" Simon yelled.

"Good to see you survived the brunt of Anna fury." Rush said as he walked in the room.

"No broken bones." Russell said, as he moved to leave. "You must remember to watch your tongue Master Simon."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Simon said after he was presumably out of earshot, then turned his attention to Rush. "So you're still here?"

"Yeah, I guess you missed that. Anna and I are gonna be staying here awhile." Rush told him.

Simon shrugged. "That's fine by me." He laid back on the table with his hands behind his head and sighed. "This place gets boring at times…"

"Hey," he said turning toward Rush, "Do thing I have a chance with Anna?"

Rush shook his head. "Not one in hell." He told him simply.

"Why would you say that?"

"She's taken."

"You?"

"Yeah."

"Caught on quick didn't it?"

"The new law? Yeah, it did."

Simon sighed. "Oh well…"

"So you wanna play COD?" Rush suggested.

"Fuck yeah."

Meanwhile, Anna was successful at finding the foyer again and was going to try to retrace her steps before she noticed a light in one of the sitting rooms. Figuring it must be Pete, she decided this was ample time to get some answers.

It took a moment for Pete to notice Anna was there, looking through the books on one of the shelves. "Get lost?" he asked.

"Not really," she told him. "This is definitely and amazing place you got here."

"Thanks, I guess. Make your selves at home." Pete said that last part with a hint of sarcasm. Anna picked up on it, and used it to continue.

"I'm sure you and Rush will get along. He eccentric, no doubt about that, but his heart and mind are in the right place."

"I can see that." Pete said going back to his book. "He still bugs the crap out of me…"

"Pete, I know this day has been hard on you, but can I ask why you were up in that window today?"

Pete sighed and closed his book. "This day has been eventful, hasn't it? I don't think I've completely grasped everything yet." He stood up and started walking out of the room and toward the stairs. But he stopped at the doorway. "Do me a favor and tell Rush I'm sorry for blowing up at him during lunch. I know he's right, I guess I just wanted everything to go away. Also could you tell him I said… Thank you." The last words were barely a whisper.

Anna smiled, "Nope that's something you have to do yourself."

"Right." Pete walked out of the room saying, "If you see Russell tell him I went to bed early.

Anna looked out the window and saw that the sun was just starting it's decent. Rescanning the bookshelves, she found one that peeked her interest and decided to sit a read for a while. The next time she looked out the window, the sun was just starting to touch the horizon. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind and found Rush had not moved in the last few hours either. Locking on to him, she teleported. When she opened her eyes, she found the she was standing behind Rush who was sitting on a couch next to Simon and playing videogames. She tapped Rush on the shoulder.

Rush turned his head to try to see who poked him. "Hm? Oh, hi Anna what's up?"

"Can we talk a sec?" She asked.

"Sure." He said, then turned to Simon. "You got this?"

"I'll cover you." He said without looking away from the screen.

Rush got up and followed Anna to the corner of the room. When they got there Anna said, "We need to figure out some way to get Pete out of his funk for good."

"I already knew that, and I'm guessing you already knew I knew that. So what's up?"

"Pete won't tell me what's bugging him. I want you to try and ask him tomorrow Ok? Or at least try to puzzle it out?"

"No problem." Rush told her. He kissed her forehead.

"Thanks." She smiled up at him.

"Uh Rush, I could use some help here!" Simon yelled over.

Rush rolled his eyes. "I'm coming." He said and ran back to the couch. Anna followed. She leaned behind Rush and watched them play.

In his room, Pete stare at the ceiling, as he had been doing for hours. His eyes were red from crying to whole time. Soon, though, the exhaustion from the day's event caught up to him, and he fell asleep.


	5. The next day

**This one took awhile… Chapter 5 is probably the most complete rewrite I had to do for this, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. As a note, there are lyrics in this chapter and I suggest listening to the song. It will help get a feel for what's happening. Also I think it's a good song soo… LISTEN TO IT!**

Rush awoke early the next morning. He took a second to look around, trying to remember where he was and why. When he did, a smile came to his face.

He got out of bed as quietly as possible, trying not to wake Anna, and went to the bathroom to take a shower. The two had picked one of the smaller rooms in Pete's mansion with just a bed, a TV, a dresser, and an adjoined bathroom. The décor was pretty basic, the walls were a soft blue, the floor white, tight knit carpet, the bed more functional than extravagant, and the TV not even that big. Overall, it was more cozy than fancy, and it felt like home.

After his shower, Rush got fresh clothes from the dresser, which Rush had noticed last night that it was already filled with clothes not unlike the ones he wore yesterday, and put them on remembering something Simon said yesterday about Russell being very good at anticipating.

He then went back into the bathroom to give himself a once-over. The first thing he noticed was that the black disturbed shirt and jeans he pulled out of the dresser fit his athletic build surprisingly well. The second thing he noticed was that he needed a haircut, his black hair starting to almost completely cover his eyes. He sighed trying to think of how he could fit that in, and then shivered at thought of having Anna cut his hair again.

Rush brushed his teeth and, noticing that Anna was still asleep, decided to go looking around one more time. He left Anna a note on his pillow, similar to the one he left yesterday, that said:

**Anna,**

** Got up early again, went exploring.**

** Don't wait up for me if you don't want, seems there's a lot to do here… I'll meet up with you at breakfast.**

** -Rush**

**P.S. If I'm gone for more than three days, I got lost, and most surely died. In the event of that, I will come back to haunt you, forever poking the back of your head.**

The second floor, as Rush confirmed last night, was indeed primarily bedrooms with only a couple of studies thrown in. The first floor, though, seemed to have one of everything. As Rush made his first attempt to make it from the front of the mansion to the back he passed a billiards room, an art studio, and a dance studio. That, in addition to all the rooms he had been in the previous day, made him realize that this was going to be a pretty hard place to leave…

When Rush finally made it to the back of the mansion, he was, once again, awestruck by the sight before him. At the back of the mansion was an enclosed orchard that seemed to be growing every berry Rush could name. (And several he couldn't) The orchard had no roof and surrounding it was what was likely to be even more interesting rooms. As Rush proceeded through the orchard, he came upon a an Olympic style swimming pool at its center. The pool looked well maintained but under used. Never having a pool, this interested Rush the most. So much so he didn't notice Russell over to his right, who was trimming the branches of one of the trees.

"Good morning young Rush." Russell said, making Rush almost fall into the pool. "How are you this fine day?"

"Good morning." Rush said once he regained his balance. "I'm good. Still discovering everything this place has to offer. Was this some kind of hotel or something before Pete's family owned it?"

Russell stopped what he was doing and gave Rush a confused look. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, I mean this place seems to have everything. Kinda like some really fancy resort, or something."

"Hmm… I guess I can see how one could think that. But I assure you that this house was never a hotel and that it was made solely for the Kilnsworth family. And I should know since I was one of the main people who worked on it." Russell broke out in laughter.

Rush whistled. "Wow, Russell, is there anything you can't do?"

"Very little," Russell said once his laughter subsided. "I guess you could say that I'm one hell of a-"

"Stop." Rush interrupted.

Russell, again, looked puzzled. "I was simply going to say-"

Rush shook his head. "Copyrights." He said simply.

Russell decided to drop the subject. "Anyway," he went on, "my point is that most of the content of this house was the idea of Peter's parents. They wished to create for him an environment that could nurture any and all of their son's interests. Though, at the time of construction, Peter was far too young to know what interested him, so his parents tried to cover all of the bases."

"Ok, that explains that." Rush said after considering what Russell said. "But then why all of the bedrooms?"

Russell nodded. "Peter's mother also planned the contents of the house under the assumption that their son, and also the family as a whole, would be very popular and would often entertain guests, and she wished to accommodate them as much as she could. Sadly, though, that wasn't the case and these halls were all too often empty."

Rush nodded in understanding. He was about to change the subject, when he remembered his promise to Anna and decided to push the matter further. "I see… So, what? Pete's parents gave him everything then left him on his own?"

Rush thought Russell would take offense at his choice of words, but he simply shook his head and said, "You couldn't be more wrong. They would always make time for their son, and do anything to make him happy."

"So what happened?"

"About a year ago both his parents were killed in a hit-and-run leaving a restaurant."

Rush saw something like that coming. "Was Pete…?" he choked on the words.

"No he wasn't with them. He was sick that day and stayed home."

Rush sighed. He leaned back against one of the trees and looked up at the morning sky. He imagined Pete opening his front door, a smile on his face, expecting to see his parents with some unbelievable story as to why they were so late. Only to see a police officer who tells him that his parents are dead. Just like he himself went through not so long ago.

"He's just like me…" Rush said wiping tears from his eyes. "No wonder he was up in that window…"

"Though there's no doubt his parents' deaths saddened him greatly, I do not think I can agree with you that it is what pushed him to the edge." Russell said who had gone back to trimming the branches of a Chesta Berry tree.

Rush was very confused. "Really? Are you sure?"

Russell nodded. "I've worked for this family for several decades and know that, while they gave Peter much of their attention, his parents were sure to prepare him for the day they were gone. For you see, Master Rush, Peter's parents were not long for this world, even before the accident. The madam would fall in and out of sickness constantly, and the late master was older than even I."

"Then what do you think got him as low as he was?" Rush asked.

Russell shrugged. "What I think made him so sad is not important. The only one who can truly answer that question is Peter himself."

Rush nodded. "I see… Thank you Russell." Rush made a move to leave.

"Oh, before you go," Russell said before he made it two steps, "Could you make sure everyone is awake? And tell them that it is time for breakfast?"

"No problem," Rush smiled. "See ya round!"

Rush set off again on his exploration of the mansion, this time hoping he'd be lucky enough to run into everyone else on accident too, otherwise Russell's request would be fairly hard to carry out. He should have asked him where he thought they'd be…

Taking a different route, he eventually ended up at the room he and Simon had spent much of the previous afternoon. Passing on his way a pastry kitchen, a shooting range, and a glass and ceramics studio. Rush was a little surprised to see that Simon was not there, considering the only thing he'd seen Simon do since he got here was play videogames. Rush backtracked and took a different hallway. He didn't make it very far before a noise caught his ear. And as he continued he began to feel the floor vibrate rhythmically. Moving on, the heavy bass soon became accompanied by the high-end synth of electronic music.

The music continued to grow in volume, until Rush came to the door he was sure the music was emanating from. As he reached for the door the song turned to the progressive randomness of a filthy Dubstep drop and grew even louder. Opening the door brought a look of fear to Rush's face. For behind the door was another door, meaning the already blaring music was being filtered through a sound proof room. Rush reconsidered going in the room for second, but finally steeled his nerves and opened the door. His fears were confirmed as a blast of music made him cover his ears almost instantly. He ran into the room in search of the source of the music, quickly finding it in the far corner of the room, and turned it off as fast as possible.

Rush took a moment to relish in the silence.

"Hey that was a good song!" Came Simon's voice from behind him. Rush turned around to find its source. It was then he noticed that the room he was in was outfitted as a gym, with many different weight lifting machines dispersed throughout it. Rush saw Simon rise from one of the machines.

"Listen, man," Rush said, "I like music too, but that volume level will melt your brain."

Simon looked at him confused then took what must have been ear plugs out of his ears. "What?" He asked.

Rush rolled his eyes. "Ok, what's the point of the deafening volume if you're just drowning it out?"

"Two reasons." Simon reached to grab the towel that was beneath him. "First is because I can get more bass. There are several twelve hundred watt subs in this room, and I will take advantage of them! The second reason is it usually turns away anyone who wants to bug me."

"Are you implying that I should leave?" asked Rush.

"No, it's mostly just for Laurel. All she ever does is pester me about stuff I don't understand and then insults me. Though, I guess I started doing it because of Pete's girlfriend."

Rush's eyes widened, "He has a girlfriend?"

Simon stood up and went to put more weight on… whatever it was he was using. "He used to…"

Rush waited for him to explain, but as Simon sat back down it didn't seem like he was going to say anything more, so he decided to push the issue. "Well what happened?"

Simon let out a breath and dropped his eyes. "Don't know…" He said. "About a week ago everyone just stopped talking about her. And when I tried to bring up what happened, Laurel nearly froze me solid! So, needless to say, I stay away from that topic now. The way I see it, I got my answer: nothing good.

"To be honest I'm glad she's gone. She rubbed me the wrong way…"

"Why was that?" Rush asked now leaning against the machine parallel to Simon.

"She was one of those ones that said things in a way to try to manipulate people, you know? It seemed she always wanted, no, needed things to go her way. And if they didn't, things got ugly. But, as they say, 'love is blind', and I don't think Pete ever noticed."

"I see," Rush said, "Well, thanks for sorting that out. Oh! And I almost forgot: Russell said time for breakfast."

Simon slapped the bench he was sitting on. "Awesome! Just gotta finish up here."

Rush stood up, chuckling. "So I take it _you_ enjoy life here."

"Bro you have no idea," Simon said lying back down on the machine. "I was left for dead at a day care before Pete and his family picked me up. And now I live in the lap of luxury."

"You don't say…"

"Still, though, big house, little old me…"

"What's that mean?"

"It means that there's a lot to do here, but it gets dull. My point is, try to keep livening things up while you're here. I mean you've done a pretty good job so far."

"Oh, I can definitely guarantee that. Well, I gotta go gather up everyone else. See ya."

"See ya."

In the hall Rush thought over everything he had just learned about Pete. His parents were killed, but he was able to cope, and this girlfriend… Something was still missing from the story and he needed to find out what it was.

He was brought out of his thought bubble by the sound of a sneeze. He looked around. The only other thing in the hallway was a potted plant on a waist high column, which was a common sight throughout the mansion. Rush, deducing the only logical explanation, peeked around the plant. At first he saw nothing, but when he looked down at the floor he saw Laurel hiding with her front paws over her eyes.

"Bless you." Rush said, making Laurel jump with a yip.

At first she looked at Rush with fear, but, as though realizing who it was, her look quickly turned to relief. "Oh, it's just you."

"Who were you expecting?" Rush began to say before Laurel's head suddenly hit Rush's gut with the force of a boulder, causing him to double over.

"Do not sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry…" Rush apologized once he could breathe again. "Um… who are you hiding from?"

"That freaking Flareon of yours! He hasn't left me alone since you guys got here!"

"Right…" Rush said recalling a memory from last night's dinner that consisted of his steak being frozen because of an Ice Beam meant for Blaze.

"What's wrong with that guy? He makes everything awkward as fuck! I mean doesn't he know the meaning of 'shut up'? Arceus!"

"Well, I think Blaze is one of those who always say what they think, regardless of the thought's contents… According to what Anna has told me."

"So he _doesn't_ know how to shut up?"

"I guess you could put it that way… You could also say he doesn't have a sensor."

"Or shame…"

The two stood in silence for a moment, not sure where to go from there. But then Rush knelt down in front of Laurel.

"Listen, give Blaze a chance. I just caught him the other day, and I don't think his life was all that easy before that… He just doesn't know how he should act yet in his new world, how he can fit in."

"I don't think I have the patience…"

"Try, please?"

Laurel her head and sighed. "Fine… you owe me."

"If the outcome of this is as I hope, the act should repay itself." Rush smiled down at her.

"What does that-?" She shook her head. "I don't wanna know."

"One other thing, do you know if Pete is awake? And if so, where I might find him?"

Laurel made a move as if to leave, saying over her shoulder, "I do, but why should I let you disturb him?"

"Well one reason is because Russell told me to tell everyone it's time for breakfast. It's time for breakfast, by the way. The other is because I'm close to figuring out why he was in that window in the first place so I can start figuring out how I can help him. So far, I was thinking of contacting this girlfriend I heard he had. Do you-"

"Where did you hear about that bitch?" Laurel did a one eighty and held a look that made her seem three times her size.

"From Simon, he said-"

"Oh, of course he told you." She started to pace across the hall in frustration. "Well did he tell you what she did to Pete? To this family? And you want to call her? To help him! Well I am not going to let that bitch back in this house. Not now, not ever."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

Laurel interrupted Rush once again. "You want to know what caused Pete to climb up into that window? It's her, I can guarantee that. Whatever she did to him destroyed him. He walked around like a ghost for days. It was like the world around him didn't exist anymore…" She was starting to break down. Rush noticed tears hitting the floor where she walked. He knelt down and petted her head.

"Laurel, what _did_ she do to him?"

Laurel made herself stop crying. "I don't know. He was acting like a zombie. When I tried to ask him what was wrong, it was like he didn't hear me."

Rush bent down lower and said with complete sincerity, "Laurel, you have my word that I will get to the bottom of this, and I will help Pete get back to his old self."

She looked up at him. "I believe you. Thank you."

Rush smiled. "No problem. Now, go get some breakfast."

Laurel licked Rush's cheek before running off down the hall, "Pete should be in the music room. It's right down this hallway and you can't miss it." She disappeared around a corner.

Rush sat there for a moment, watching the spot she was just in. He reached up to his ear and took out the translator. Staring at it, he said "This is going to take longer to get used to then I thought…" He put the translator back in his ear and stood up. "Time to get to the bottom of this."

Not far down the hall, Rush started hearing music again. Not Dubstep this time, but piano. As Rush reached the door the music emanated from, he realized he recognized the song.

He opened the door and saw Pete sitting at a grand piano in the center of the room. As he stepped in, Pete began to sing.

"She just walked away  
Why didn't she tell me?  
And where do I go tonight?  
This isn't happening to me  
This can't be happening to me  
She didn't say a word  
Just walked away

You were the first to say  
That we were not okay  
You were the first to lie  
When we were not alright  
this was my first love  
She was the first to go  
And when she left me for you  
I was the last to know

Why didn't she tell me  
Where to go tonight?  
She didn't say word  
She just walked away

You were the first to say  
That we were not okay  
You were the first to lie  
When we were not alright  
this was my first love  
She was the first to go  
And when she left me for you  
I was the last to know"

Pete stopped playing and sighed. "You're forgetting the second half of that song." Rush said from the doorway.

"That part is irrelevant…" Pete said without looking up.

"Ah, but it is relevant." Rush looked around the room. It was mostly full of string and band instruments, but in a corner Rush saw a full drum kit. He walked over to it and sat down. "Let me help you out. Now, play."

Rush started the build up, and Pete, realizing he had no choice, joined in.

"I'll be the first to say  
That now I'm okay  
And for the first time  
I've opened up my eyes  
This was my worst love  
You'll be the first to go  
And when she leaves you for dead  
You'll be the last to know

I'll be the first to say  
That now I'm okay  
And for the first time  
I've opened up my eyes  
This was my worst love  
You'll be the first to go  
And when she leaves you for dead  
You'll be the last to know"

"Don't you feel better now?" Rush said getting up from the drum kit and walking over to sit next to Pete.

"Not really…" Pete said after Rush sat down. "By the way, Simon's going to kill you for touching his drums."

"I don't think he'll know."

"He'll know."

"Whatever." Rush hit a diminished chord on the piano in frustration. "Pete I've spent the last hour finding out a lot about you. Not only did your parents die, but you had to deal with some bitch girl too?"

Pete's expression didn't change. He didn't even blink. "That's correct."

"The only thing I don't know is exactly what happened with this girlfriend of yours. So what did happen?"

Pete turned his head and locked a cold gaze on Rush. "And why the hell should I tell you?"

Rush returned his stare with one of warmth. "Because I want to help you. To make it short, I want to spare you the hell I was in for almost two years before I realized many important things."

Pete opened his mouth to say something, but just sighed and dropped his gaze back to the piano keys. "What I don't want your help?"

"You're getting it anyway. By order of Sinnoh's finest. So it'd be better if you just listened to me." Rush said with a joking, sarcastic tone.

Pete clenched his eyes shut. "Fine." He said, standing up. He walked over to a window and rested his hands on the sill. "To put it simply, she was a gold digger. And, as the cliché goes, I refused to believe it. For years I was nothing to her, and she nothing to me. But when I grew close to claim my inheritance she was all over me; the timing never occurred to me, as I never thought much about money.

"For a while I was blind but happy. Until the son of a friend of my father's pointed out to me what she was; and then my eyes opened. I started to see how she worked; only spending time together if it was on my dime, getting upset if I got her a cheaper version of… Whatever!

"At first I was in denial, of course, so I needed to be sure, one way or the other. I set up one last test: a lie that I wished to donate the majority of my inheritance upon receiving it. Eventually it reached her ear. It was then I realized my lie worked too well…"

"She went berserk?" Rush asked.

"To say that she went berserk is a gross understatement." Pete turned away from the window, Rush noticed tears welling up in his eyes. "To be honest, I don't remember much of what she said to me. I guess I must have blocked it all out… But it left me in ruins.

"After she destroyed me, she was gone."

Rush then remembered the song. "And went to the very person who warned you of her…"

Pete sat back down at the piano. "Exactly."

They sat in silence. Rush put a hand on Pete's shoulder. "Thank you, I know that was tough."

"And now you know everything." Pete said, and then suddenly he looked like he'd been slapped by a brick wall. "But I still know almost nothing about you." He put a hand on Rush's shoulder. "Well? It's only fair."

Rush laughed. "Some other time." He stood up. "Right now, It's time for breakfast. And I still have one more person to collect." He started walking out of the room.

"And what about that help?" Pete yelled at him as he left.

Rush gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry; I know what I'm doing."

Back at their room, Rush arrived just as Anna was getting dressed from her shower. "There you are!" She said teleporting the towel she was using to dry her hair back into the bathroom. "How has your morning been going? I see you didn't get lost."

"Productive." Rush said sitting down on the bed next to her.

"Did you learn more about Pete?" She looked hopeful.

"I learned everything…"

Rush explained everything that had happened so far that morning. Anna took it all with a sad look in her eyes.

"Poor guy…" Anna said when Rush was finished.

"Mhmm…"

"Well, we can't just sit here and pity him! What's the plan?"

Rush shrugged. "I don't know. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I've just been making it up as I go so far…"

Anna gave him an angry look then shoved him off the bed. "The shit you get us into! I thought you had a plan this whole time!"

Rush sat back on the bed, chuckling. "I have some ideas at least."

"Like what?"

"Well, he needs to learn everything I had to learn to get back on my feet for starters. I just don't quite know the best way to make them stick…"

Anna thought about it for a minute, and then snapped her fingers. "I got it!"

"Got what?" Rush asked who had been rambling during her whole thought process.

"A plan." She said standing up and grabbing him.

"Ok, good. Where do we start?" Rush asked as she dragged him toward the door.

"With breakfast."


End file.
